Aviation ZephIR: lidar wind profiling and wake vortex detection · 2010-04-01 · Aviation ZephIR: the ZephIR development for wind shear and wake vortex detection 3 trials at Birmingham

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© Copyright QinetiQ Limited 2009

Aviation ZephIR: lidar wind profiling and wake vortex detection

Chris Hill, John Bennett, Russ Noble and Dave Smith

QinetiQ Malvern

• Reminder of what ZephIR does

• Aviation ZephIR: trials at UK airports

• Successful detection and tracking of vortices

WakeNet3, THALES Palaiseau, March 2010

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Airport / vortex trials with Doppler lidar

Toulouse 1998:

CO2 lidar, nodding scan

Heathrow 1994/5:

CO2 lidar, nodding scanBirmingham andHeathrow 2007 - 2009:ZephIR, conical scan

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Conical-scan laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV):CO2 LDV was 1980s / 90s workhorse; ZephIR uses same principle

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ZephIRTM: a fibre-optic lidar wind profiler

Builds up wind profile by measuring wind speed at chosen heights, 10 m - 200 m

Measures horizontal wind speed & wind direction, vertical wind speed, turbulence

Overall height 1.5 m, mass 130 kg. Assembled and operational in under 1 hour

Independently assessed and compared with conventional anemometers and sodars

An accepted, validated benchmark for remote anemometry in the wind power industry

Optics pod

Electronics pod

Battery pod

Met mast

Tripod

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Aviation ZephIR: the ZephIR development for wind shear and wake vortex detection

3 trials at Birmingham Airport and 3 at Heathrow:

- Easily installed beneath the approach path

- Measured wind profile and shear at heights up to 150 m

PLUS

- Recorded wake turbulence from several hundred aircraft arrivals

Conical scan intersecting glide slope at BHX

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Aviation ZephIR: Standard profile, 25 m to 150 m altitude

Wind profile (horizontal speed) LHR 27R 20/08/08 1515

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

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0 300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 2100 2400 2700 3000

Time (s)

Hor

izon

tal w

ind

spee

d m

/s

38m50m75m100m125m150m800m

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Aviation ZephIR: Wind speed on Heathrow glideslope at 90 m

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Aviation ZephIR: Pilot’s view of LHR approach

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Wind measurement by ZephIR: interpreting “figures of 8”

Undisturbed air: a smooth “Figure of eight”

Vertical component Turbulence

NE wind NW wind

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Vortex detection by Aviation ZephIR

Vortex from Airbus 320

Undisturbed air

North

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Southern approach to Birmingham (BHX)

Vortices from B777Undisturbed air

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B777 at Heathrow 27L

LHR25_061200_detections

Wind speed (0 – 15 m/s)

Time (0 – 23 seconds)

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LHR25_061202_detections

Angle in conical

scan(0 - 2π rad)

Time (0 – 23 seconds)

2π

0

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A380 followed by B747 at LHR


Aviation ZephIR: Benefits

• Minimum measurement range ~ 10 m (pulsed lidars have a “dead zone” of tens of metres)

• Range resolution maximised at lower altitudes (critical regions for some aviation applications)

• 50 measurements per one-second conical scan (7o interval):

• Redundancy – we can afford to lose some measurements

• Verification of uniform flow assumptions

• Vortex tracking through scan cone

• Wind profiling assists prediction of vortex motion outside field of view

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Recent Improvements

Range increased from 150 m to 200 m: • Detailed checks vs mast anemometers

Low-noise laser + improved processing:• Smaller insensitive region near zero Doppler

Direction-sensing:• New hardware: +/- sign of Doppler explicitly measured for each angle = WindScanner project at Risø for 3D wind profiling• New software: wind direction obtained from scan-to-scan correlation

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Aviation ZephIR summary

A calibrated and validated remote anemometer• No masts – Easy to deploy – Eyesafe• Low maintenance – Optically and mechanically simple • Range 10 m to 200 m

Fills a gap in the critical areas for airport sensors

Measures wind vector in real time on the glide slope

Detects and tracks vortices

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Acknowledgements

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Conical scan with direction-sensing ZephIR

Both +ve and –ve frequency bins are available

Least-squares fitting routine uses signed quantities rather than magnitudes

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North

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Aviation ZephIR: Pilot’s view of BHX approach

Aviation ZephIR: lidar wind profiling and wake vortex detection · 2010-04-01 · Aviation ZephIR: the ZephIR development for wind shear and wake vortex detection 3 trials at Birmingham

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